Recently, Bob Johnson featured a number of institutions in his blog that are using Instant Messenging in reaching out to prospective students. He highlighted pages that he felt are doing a nice job. These institutions are just a few of the many that have tried to facilitate the use of instant messaging for their prospects and I applaud them in their efforts. A few others I would like to recognize that are doing similar things, that I have liked and am familiar with:
- Concordia University-Moorhead: http://www.cord.edu/dept/admissions/counselor/index.php
- Concordia takes a similar approach to Gustavus, but lays out access differently.
- Dakota State University: http://admissions.dsu.edu/jump/aim2.asp
- Users of IM are able to confirm AOL IM status quickly and easily via a very clean status screen
- Augustana College: http://www.augustana.edu/admissions/im/
- Augustana takes a simplified approach to IM, with a single point of entry, rather than having all counselors posting individual addresses.
I could continue to list a number of schools and that list would grow daily as more and more come on board. However if you are new to IM, as you review your competitors and what they are doing, I would also encourage you to forge your own path and check out aggregator tools, such as Meebo, that I have mentioned before. Not only can you maintain multiple accounts via a single interface, but Meebo will also allow you to create a widget that can be added to your web site, allowing instant access for any visitor...whether they use an IM program or not. In fact, you can see that exact widget on the left side of my blog.
